Racism to the highest level

The War At Home

by Chip Tsao (HK Online)


The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That's no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don't flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout 'China, Madam/Sir' loudly whenever they hear the word 'Spratly.' They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, 'Long live Chairman Mao!' at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I'm not sure if that's going a bit too far, at least for the time being.

And here's my thoughts:

Giatay maning tawhana. Pardon the expletive. Inspite of the fact that we now live in the 21st century, narrow-minded people like Chip Tsao still exist to remind us that some people's brains haven't evolved much since the Paleolithic era.

Waffles

For the last two weeks, I've been craving for waffles. Hiro Nakamura is the culprit for my current longing for it. There's this particular scene in Heroes 3 where Hiro and his friend Ando were eating large servings of waffles with whipped creams and mouthwatering toppings. That scene has stayed with me for days and disturbed me even while I sleep. So to end my torture, I dragged my sister to Starbucks in A.S. Fortuna. It's the nearest establishment from our home that sells Belgian waffles. My waffle was served with a large dollop of whipped cream and generous tracings of mocca sauce. It was so rich that I had to share half of it with my sister. I was praying for my blood sugar while I was eating it. One thing I am sure of at the moment, I won't be having their waffles again for a long time.

Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig

Once again, efforts to rehabilitate the Pasig River are revived through the Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig project. Past efforts have failed due to lack of funds, lack of political will from the government, apathy from the residents along the river, and many more. Piso Para sa Pasig, which was chaired by then First Lady Ming Ramos, was one of those ill-fated crusades. This time, I'm positive that the new campaign will work because ABS-CBN Foundation has decided to pitch in. The foundation is now a co-manager of the Pasig River rehabilitation project, thanks to a memorandum signed by Gina Lopez with DENR and other agencies. Everyone knows that Ms. Gina's foundation has successfully reforested the La Mesa watershed. Pasig River's rehabilitation may entail brutal work, but there is hope.

ABS-CBN Foundation has made donating to the Pasig River rehabilitation project easy. All you have to do is type GIVE < space > ILOG on your cellphones and send to 2336 for all networks.

If you have some cellphone load that is about to expire, then you may just use it for this worthy cause. Instead of forwarding trite and corny text messages to your friends, why not send it for Pasig River for a change? There is an estimated 80 million Filipinos now. The project needs 700 million pesos for it to succeed. Just imagine if everyone will send their text messages, then it is not that far in the future when we'll all see fishes swimming in Pasig River once again. Let's all pitch in.